My good friend was diagnosed with Stage 1 bladder cancer 6 months ago. He was told that the cancer had not reached the muscle of the bladder. They removed the tumor and gave him 6 weeks of the BCG treatment. Soon after finishing the treatments he started peeing blood again so he went back in to find that a golf ball sized tumor had grown back during the treatments. We just received the pathology results yesterday and found that the cancer was now in his bladder muscle as well and that it is now Stage II. The doctor is recommending removal of the bladder ASAP. I have a few questions:
1) At this point, is removal of the bladder the best action to take?
2) If he does try to beat the cancer with chemotherapy or radiation while trying to save his bladder, is this an extremely dangerous gamble? The doctor made it seem like it is.
3) My friend wants to wait for a couple of months before he gets the surgery while he gets a second and third opinion and takes a trip. Is this a bad idea?
Thank you for any help you can give.